Judge Vaughn Walker is scheduled to hand down his ruling on the Prop 8 case today. I have high hopes that he will rule the right way. It will be devastating if he does not.

Two hours before the ruling was due to be delivered in California, I was at a meeting of the GSA at my campus in Michigan. (I am the faculty advisor.) The purpose of the meeting was to work on plans for a celebration of GLBTQ History Month in October, but of course the topic of the Prop 8 case came up. I expressed cautious optimism that the decision would be favorable, but I knew that it would be appealed and suspected that there might be a stay pending the appeal. The students were optimistic about the outcome of the case. They were very displeased, though, by the idea of the stay. They seemed to be envisioning gay and lesbian couples rushing right off to apply for marriage licenses, which would have been a wonderful and just thing but appeared unlikely to happen.

Eventually we got back to the business of the plans for GLBTQ History Month. In the course of the discussion, a student who will be designing posters and flyers and such asked that everyone think about quotations that he could use on them. The first thing that came to my mind was Harvey Milk's "You gotta give them hope." In the students of the GSA, I see young people who are hopeful about strides toward equality in the future--including the near future. I am glad that they are interested in learning about the history of the dedicated glbtq people before them who had the hope and the courage to begin the work that continues today.

Needless to say, I am elated by Judge Walker's decision. There will still be obstacles to overcome, and there will be setbacks along the way, but this is a day to take heart and have hope._________________Linda